The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-22
HOW MEN DIE IN BATTLE
War as Seen by Private of an Oh
servant Turn

ITlNdte III Unls chapter, which can not fail
to be of greater interest to the averap
reader than the war stories which ave
written from the standpoint Of men who
were rot in the fight, or, being there. treat
of the struggle in general and tactical wav =:
Almost every death on the battlefield is
different. And the manner of the death de-
pends- on the wound and on the man
whether he is cowardly or brave, whether
his vitality is large or small, whether he is a.
man of active imagination or is dull of
intellect, whether he is of nervous or SYM
pathetic temperament 1 instance deaths
aad wounds that | found in Grants last
campaign.
On the second day of the battle of the
Wilderness, when | fought as an infantry
soldier, saw more men killed and wounded
than | did before or after the same time |
knew but few of the men in the regiment
in whose ranks | stood, but learned the
christian names of some of them. The
man who stood next to me on my right was
called Will. He was cool, brave
and intelligent In the morning when
the secondfcorps was advancing and driv-
ing Hills soldiers slowly back [ was
Hurried. He noticed it, and steadied nv
nerves by saying kindly: Don't fire SO
fast. This fight will last all day. Don't
hurry. Cover your man before YOU pull
your Trigger. Luxe III eaSy, my DoTS, take
it easy, and your cartridges will last the
longer" This man fought effectively.
During the day had learned to look I'D to
this excellent soldier, and lean on him.
Toward evening, as we were being
slowly driven back to the Brock
road by Lengstreet's men, we made
stand. l was behind tree firing, with my
rifle barrel resting on the stub of a limb.
VIII was standing by my SIDE but in the
q a lodi 4
dropped on the ground at my feet. He
booked up at me. His face was pale. He
gasped for breath few times and then said,
family: THAT ends me. | am shot through
the bowels" | said: Crawl to the rear. We
are not far from the intrenchments along
the Brock road" saw him sit up, and in
distinctly saw him reach for his rifle, which
had fallen from his hands as he fell Again
Ispoke to him to go to the rear. He looked
at me and said impatiently: 81 tell you
that am as good as dead. There is no use
in fooling with me. | shall stay here.'
Then he pitched forward, dead, shot again
and through the head. We fell back before
Longstreets soldiers and left VIII lying in a
windrow of dead men,
When we got in the Brock road intrench-
n1ents man few files to my left dropped
dead, shot just above the right eye He did
not groan or sigh or make the slightest ply
steal movement, except that his chest
heaved a few times. The life went
out of his face instantly, leaving it without
a particle of expression. 1t was plastic,
and, as the facial muscles contracted, it
took many shapes. When this mans body
became cold, and his face hardened. it
was horribly distorted, as though he
had suffered intensely. Any person who
had not seen him killed would have said
that he endured supreme agony before death
released him. A few minutes after he fell
another man, a little farther to the left, fell
with apparently precisely similar wound.
He was Strengthened out and lived for over
an hour. He did not speak. Simply lay on
his back, and his broad chest rose and fell,
slowly at first, and then faster and faster
and more and more feebly until he was dead.
And his face hardened and it was almost
terrifying in its painful distortion. have
seen dead soldiers faces which were
wreathed in smiles, and heard their COM
rades say that they had died happy. do
not believe that the face of a dead soldier,
lying on battlefield ever truthfully indi-
Gates the mental or physical anguish, or
peacefulness of mind, which he suffered or
enjoyed before his death. The face is plas-
tic after death, and, as the facial muscles
cool and contract, they draw the face into
many shapes. Sometimes the dead smile,
again they stare with CLASSY eyes and lolling
tongues and dreadfully distorted visages at
you. IL goes IOr nOU1lnS. One death was
as painless as the other.
After Longstereet's soldiers had driven
the Second corps into their intrenchments
along the Brock road, a battle-exhausted
infantryman stood behind large oak tree.
His back rested against it. He was very
4 tired, and held his rife loosely in his hand.
The C0nfederates were directlyin our front
This soldier was apparently in perfect safety
A solid shot from Confederate gun struck
ground, but it did not have sufficient force
to tear through the tough wood. The
soldier fell dead. There was not a scratch
on him. He was killed by conclusion.
While we were fighting savagely over
these intrenchments the woods in our front
caught fire, andI saw many of our wounded
burn to death. Must they not have SUI
fered horribly ] am not at all sure of
that. The smoke rolled heavily and slowly
before the fire. 1t enveloped the wounded,
and | think that by far the larger portion of
the men who were roasted were suffocated
before the flames curled round them. The
spectacle was courage-sapping and pitiful,
and it appealed strongly to the imagination
of the spectators, but | do not believe
that the wounded soldiers, who were being
burned, suffered greatly, if they suffered at
all.
Wounded soldiers, it mattered not how
slight the wounds, generally fastened away
from the battle lines. A wound entitled a
man to go the rear and to a hospital Of
course, there were many exceptions to this
rule, as there would necessarily be in battles
where from 10000 to $4,000 men are
wounded. l frequently saw slightly
wounded men who We're marching with
their colors. personally saw but two men
wounded who continued to fight. During
the first days fighting in the Wilderness
saw youth of about 20 years skip
and yell, stung by bullet
limp to the rear. After he had gone few
steps he stopped, then he kicked out his leg
once or twice to see if it would work. Then
he tore the clothing away from his leg so as
TO see the wound He looked at it attentively
for an instant then kicked out hisleg again,
then turned and took his place in the ranks,
and resumed firing. There was considerable
disorder in the line, and the soldiers moved
TO and fro-now few feet to the left, now
few feet to the right, One of these move
mentS brought me directly behind this
wounded soldier. | could see plainly from
that position, and pushed into the gaping
line and began firing In a minute or two
the wounded soldier dropped his rife, and
caSplng his left arm, exclaimed: 81 am hit
againp' He sat down behind the battle
ranks and tore Off the sleeve Of his shirt.
The wound was very slight---not much more
than skin deep. He tied his handkerchief
o1ro1 l,fa aid 10